At Tesla’s much-anticipated AI Day 2 event, CEO Elon Musk called to the stage ‘Optimus’, the humanoid robot that has been under construction—and scrutiny—since it was first announced a year ago. The curtains then pulled back, not for a man in a robot costume to take the stage this time, but for an actual, albeit unfinished, product to hobble onto the stage.
The droid walked about the stage, waved to the audience, and even performed some knee raises to demonstrate flexibility, and still, it failed to rouse a standing ovation. Perhaps the audience was waiting for a fully-fledged humanoid Optimus to leap onto the stage and assemble a Tesla. Still, any progress from a man dressed as a robot is, perhaps, welcome upgrade.
The prototype was paraded around for the beginning of the presentation—exposed circuit boards and all—before Musk sent it back to resume development. He did note that the droid could do a lot more, but it was too delicate to show off any of its current skills in its state.
A next-generation version of Optimus was also carried onto the stage with the help of three employees.
Image via Tesla
The Associated Press reported that AI researcher Filip Piekniewski was unimpressed with the whole thing and even called it a “scam.”
As the conference went on, Musk presented videos of Optimus carrying out said tasks, such as watering plants, carrying a heavy box, and lifting metal rods. But other than that, there was little to show that it was in a league of its own.
Image via Tesla
Musk stated that the final product will be a highly capable droid that can ease the burden of manufacturing and will cost less than a car. It’s roughly estimated to go for US$20,000.
The presentation wrapped up with Musk giving a roadmap of three to five years before Optimus takes up positions in factories worldwide.
There was also a moment when he touched on not wanting the robots to herald a Skynet-like future for our world. To prevent this, he mentions several safeguarding features, including a physical stop button that cannot be tampered with. But, again, with its current abilities, it’s safe to say we have nothing to worry about.
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